Space Shuttle Discovery's Final Launch Date Still Unclear

A fuel leak and crack on the space shuttle Discovery's huge external tank has forced NASA to call off any attempts to launch before Nov. 30 – the latest in a series of delays for the spacecraft's final voyage.Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

NASA has yet to set a firm launch date for the final flight
of space shuttle Discovery, after an hours-long meeting today to review technical
issues that have grounded the orbiter for over a month.

Top shuttle program mangers met today (Dec. 2) to evaluate
the repairs that were made to Discovery's massive external fuel tank.

Engineering teams at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape
Canaveral, Fla. have been compiling data in order to determine the root cause
of cracks that were found on the metal ribs of the shuttle's external tank. From
today's discussion, officials held off on assigning a firm launch date for Discovery's
final mission to the International Space Station.

"They came out of the meeting saying, 'we need to
gather more information and we need more analysis,'" NASA spokesman Allard
Beutel told SPACE.com. "They're still working on the initial cause. This
was a status update meeting rather than decision-making meeting."

NASA had been aiming for a Dec. 17 launch for Discovery, but
Beutel said shuttle mission managers are making decisions driven by data rather
than a timeline.

"We really don't have a new target launch yet ? we have
not had one since Nov. 5," Beutel said. "Here at Kennedy, we're doing
things to maintain Discovery's
launch readiness to support a Dec. 17 liftoff, but that's really just the
first available launch opportunity."

NASA has a short window in which to try and launch Discovery
this month.

The mid-December launch window for Discovery opens on Dec.
17 and runs through Dec. 20. With some coordination, shuttle managers may be
able to extend the December launch window, Beutel said, but would want to avoid
having the orbiter in flight over the transition into the new year. [INFOGRAPHIC:
NASA's Space Shuttle from Top to Bottom]

At the end of this month, the computers onboard the shuttle
need to be reconfigured to reflect the year change, and typically, NASA has
preferred to do this while the shuttle is safely on the ground or docked to the
space station.

Discovery's STS-133 mission has already been delayed since
early November due to technical and weather-related issues. The shuttle's
planned 11-day mission will deliver a storage room and Robonaut
2, a humanoid robot, to the International Space Station. Two spacewalks are
also planned.

The mission will be the 39th and last flight for Discovery
and is one of NASA's two final scheduled shuttle flights before the orbiter
fleet is retired in 2011. NASA is hoping to launch an additional shuttle flight
around June, but is still awaiting final funding approval from a congressional
appropriations committee.

Still, Beutel emphasized that there are a lot of variables
that could influence the decision-making process, and ultimately, the next
launch attempt will be set when managers are fully confident they understand
what caused the problems with the shuttle's external tank. ?

"It's not a clear cut process, but management is making
smart decisions," Beutel said. "They're not being pressured by the
schedule. It's all about when the data supports a launch."